Timeline: Ohio’s Obamacare Medicaid Expansion

Medicaid expansion was the biggest political issue in Ohio during 2013, as evidenced by the energy Governor John Kasich, the entitlement lobby, and the legacy press sank into securing billions in Obamacare funding.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that DC can’t withhold existing Medicaid funding from states that reject the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. This gives Ohio the freedom to refuse to put hundreds of thousands of able-bodied childless adults on Medicaid.

A Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO) study concludes that the Obamacare expansion would create jobs and improve the state’s finances. Ohio’s newspapers hail the study, citing it in their endorsements of Medicaid expansion and in coverage of the topic throughout the year.

With the national debt $2 trillion higher than it was in August 2011, Kasich introduces a budget including the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. Kasich’s budget plan says the expansion is necessary to help Ohio’s hospitals, “avoids leaving Ohioans’ federal tax dollars on the table,” and can be rolled back if DC cuts funding.

After being ridiculed at RedState and at National Review Online, Gov. Kasich submits his first-ever post to RedState, defending Medicaid expansion as a way “to limit further damage from Obamacare” and falsely insisting “there’s nothing we at the state level can do” to stop Obamacare spending.

In his State of the State address, Gov. Kasich claims the Obamacare expansion will “bring $13 billion of Ohio’s tax dollars back to Ohio,” warning, “if we don’t do what we should do on Medicaid, they’ll be spending it in California.” Kasich insists expanding Medicaid is the Christian thing to do, accusing the policy’s critics of wanting to “walk away from” poor Ohioans and “leave ‘em out in the street.”

A panel of conservative health policy experts testifies before the Ohio House. Buckeye Institute President Robert Alt cites our charity care funding study, Cato Institute’s Michael Cannon refutes Kasich’s Obamacare funding claims, and both present evidence that Medicaid does not improve recipients’ health. Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) President Tarren Bragdon shares proof that Medicaid expansions in other states have failed spectacularly. The Columbus Dispatch devotes less than 200 words to the panel, which other legacy media outlets simply ignore.

The Ohio House passes House Bill 59, the biennial budget, with no Medicaid expansion. The House-approved version of the budget expresses clear opposition to the Obamacare expansion, with an amendment calling for the state to reduce Medicaid enrollment as well as state and federal Medicaid spending.

A National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper released in July concludes that expanding Medicaid is likely to reduce a state’s workforce, employment, and the number of citizens with private health insurance. Aside from a passing reference in the Dispatch in mid-October, the press ignores the NBER paper.

Gov. Kasich tells reporters the Obamacare expansion “is not about Obamacare,” adding, “Medicaid expansion is no different than the current Medicaid program, and to try to tie Medicaid to Obamacare, I don’t see the connection.”

Kasich again tells reporters that Medicaid expansion will “get our money back” and is “what the Lord wants,” asserting that “some people’s motives is not proper here” when asked about conservative critics of the Obamacare expansion.

The Buckeye Institute and Media Trackers discuss the Obamacare Medicaid expansion during a panel at the We the People Convention in Columbus. The Dispatch covers the day-long event but diligently ignores our presentations.

At a Buckeye Institute event, Dennis Smith — a former head of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — refutes the Kasich Administration’s oft-repeated Obamacare funding claims.

Led by a Kasich appointee, the Controlling Board grants the Kasich Administration its Obamacare appropriation request after Kasich’s Medicaid director tells the board that failure to do so will bankrupt Ohio’s Medicaid program.

Represented by the libertarian 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, 6 House members and 2 Right to Life groups file a complaint with the Ohio Supreme Court to overturn Kasich’s end-run around the General Assembly.

Gov. Kasich repeats his false Obamacare funding claims during a national Fox News interview, also insisting that the court case against his Controlling Board maneuver is the work of “people on the outside.”